Gagik Mnatsakanyan is today’s guest of “Artsakh: Armenian Genocide 2023. Stories of Survivors” documentary project. He was displaced from the village of Nerkin Horatagh of Martakert region of Artsakh.
19 September was an ordinary day for him, he did not imagine that immediately after talking with his mother, the sounds of the explosion would be heard. He lived on rent in Stepanakaret as he was a student. That day heard the sounds as he left the house, but according to him, no matter how strange it might seem, they were used to those sounds. He immediately tried to contact the parents, but it turned out that the situation in the village was even more serious. “After the war, it turned out that the most explosions took place in our village, the most damaged houses, and the victims were mostly from our village.”
Our hero remembers the days of the siege with both sadness and joy, because he shared those days with his family, friends, relatives, and most importantly, in his native land.
“During the blockade, I gained even more willpower and realized that this is another test, that if I overcome these difficulties, I can confidently say that I can overcome many difficult trials in life. I wouldn’t want anyone to see all that,” Gagik says.
All his memories, the brightest days of his life are connected with Artsakh. Gagik states that he does not have a brother, but, unfortunately, the war took away his cousin, with whom he shared the most positive and memorable moments of life like a brother.
Gagik expresses his interesting thoughts through the small business, which he started in Artsakh. He paints beautiful pictures, bird letters, pictures symbolizing the Artsakh culture on the clothes by hand, and Gagik loves to make changes to the clothes, giving them a new breath.
Speaking about the difficulties of living in Yerevan after being displaced, he said that at first there were problems with finding a job, but now his parents have already found a job, and he resumed his work approximately 1 month later.
He says that he was accepted very well at the university, the transition was easy, there were no conflicts.
“Today I am still in my homeland and I have never separated Armenia and Artsakh, but Artsakh is always in my heart and will be with me forever,” he said at the end of the conversation with us.
Mariam Shahnazaryan
Details in the video.
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